The Weeping Prophet

We are about a third of the way through a series of talks on Sunday mornings that are all about dealing with the truth on a personal level in our lives. It is relatively easy to deal with truth at arms length in a clinical type manner, especially when it doesn’t really touch us. But to really allow the truth in and to allow it to ‘have its way with us’ is a different story. It is hard to hear the truth. And then to be willing to trust God enough to speak it out to others is something else again, but for the same reason – it’s hard for others to hear the truth.

These are hard things. In the course of my reflections on the subject, and briefly last Sunday, I have been caused to think about the prophet Jeremiah. He was called to speak the truth at a time when it was very hard to hear.

The truth involved the people’s sin and the destruction that lay in the path ahead because of it. Jeremiah didn’t win any popularity contests. He paid the price for telling the truth and earned the nick name, the ‘weeping prophet’. But the reason that Jeremiah grieved so, was not just because of how people viewed him and treated him. The real reason that Jeremiah wept so was because the people had lost their ability to do so. He wept for the people, not just because of them. They were so blind and hardened that they had lost the capacity for real remorse and genuine repentance.

My attention has been focused on the calling that Jeremiah received from God. It is found in the first chapter of his book. It is similar in nature to the calling received by others (check out Isaiah 6 for example). The thing that has really caught my attention however is this part:

“Then the LORD reached out his hand and touched my mouth and said to me, "Now, I have put my words in your mouth. See, today I appoint you over nations and kingdoms to uproot and tear down, to destroy and overthrow, to build and to plant." Jeremiah 1:9,10

What has impressed me about this is how necessary it is to tear down before we can build up; to uproot before we can plant. So often in our lives we try and make changes for the better, trying to add good things if you will, while being either unaware or unwilling to ‘root out’ the things that have to go. For Jeremiah, he realized that the nation had become so corrupt that it needed to be swept away into captivity in order for a fresh start to occur.

But, while he is called the ‘weeping prophet’, Jeremiah was not a pessimist. He had hope and his message was ultimately a message of hope.

“This is what the Lord says: "When seventy years are completed for Babylon, I will come to you and fulfill my gracious promise to bring you back to this place. For I know the plans I have for you," declares the Lord, "plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future. Then you will call upon me and come and pray to me, and I will listen to you. You will seek me and find me when you seek me with all your heart. I will be found by you," declares the Lord, "and will bring you back from captivity.” Jer 29:10-14

So too, in our lives, we need this kind of hope. We need the hope that when we face the hard things and learn to allow God to tear down the walls and the strongholds in our lives that he will use the debris to build a bridge to Him. That is ultimately what God wants to do. He wants to use our brokenness to refine us and to bring us into a closer relationship with Him and with one another.

The saying is true - If we keep doing what we are doing, we will keep getting what we’ve got. If we really want to see positive change in our lives, some stuff is going to have to go. I pray God will show us exactly what those things are. If we judge ourselves, we will not be judged.